An All Nippon Airways flight sits at Takamatsu airport in Takamatsu, western Japan, after it made an emergency landing. / AP

by Bart Jansen, USA TODAY

by Bart Jansen, USA TODAY

The Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency order late Wednesday telling U.S. airlines to stop flying Boeing 787 Dreamliners until they can prove that batteries on board are safe.

It's a major blow for Boeing and its sophisticated new jetliner that's made largely from lightweight carbon composite material, which allows airlines.to save on fuel and which passengers like for its airy cabins.

The action came the same day a smoldering battery forced the emergency landing in Japan of an All Nippon Airways plane. That incident followed a fire Jan. 7 aboard an empty Japan Airlines 787 at Boston's Logan airport.

The 787 relies on electricity more than other planes, so the problems with its power system go to the heart of the plane's design.

"Before further flight, operators of U.S.-registered, Boeing 787 aircraft must demonstrate to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that the batteries are safe," the FAA said in a statement.

"The FAA will work with the manufacturer and carriers to develop a corrective action plan to allow the U.S. 787 fleet to resume operations as quickly and safely as possible."

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and their counterparts in Japan are studying both incidents to figure out what went wrong. They haven't said how long that will take.

"The battery failures resulted in release of flammable electrolytes, heat damage, and smoke on two model 787 airplanes," the FAA said in its statement. "The root cause of these failures is currently under investigation. These conditions, if not corrected, could result in damage to critical systems and structures, and the potential for fire in the electrical compartment."

Air India also said it has grounded its fleet of six Boeing 787 aircraft under orders from Indian aviation authorities. Air India spokesman K. Swaminathan said that India's aviation authority directed the state airline to stop flying the Boeing planes Thursday morning as it waits for an investigation by Indian regulatory authorities to take place.

In Europe on Thursday, the European Aviation Safety Agency followed suit, ordering Boeing 787 Dreamliners planes grounded. The EASA's order applies to all European carriers flying the 787 Dreamliner. At the moment, only Polsh airline LOT flies the airplane. Earlier, Chile's LAN airlines said it would suspend flights.

United Airlines -- currently the only U.S. airline operating the 787, with six airplanes in service -- said it would immediately begin shifting passengers to other aircraft.

"United will immediately comply with the airworthiness directive and will work closely with the FAA and Boeing on the technical review as we work toward restoring 787 service," spokeswoman Christen David said.

Boeing CEO Jim McNerney apologized in a statement to the airlines that fly the plane and to passengers inconvenienced by the incidents.

"We are confident the 787 is safe," he said, while pledging to take "every necessary step in the coming days" to assure the traveling public of the plane's safety and to return it to service.

He said he was making the "entire resources" of Boeing available to the FAA around the clock as needed.

"Boeing," he said, "is committed to supporting the FAA and finding answers as quickly as possible. The company is working around the clock with its customers and the various regulatory and investigative authorities."

All Nippon Airways said a cockpit message showed battery problems and a burning smell were detected in the cockpit and the cabin, forcing the 787 on a domestic flight to land at Takamatsu airport in western Japan.

Even before the FAA action, some frequent fliers said the plane's problems made them hesitant to fly it. Terry Buchen, a golf-course agronomist in Williamsburg, Va., said he is flying Friday from Portland, Ore., to Tokyo on a Boeing 767.

"If I was going to fly on a Dreamliner for this trip, I would cancel it and re-book on another flight using 'proven winner' airplanes that have a good safety record," Buchen says.

The 787 Dreamliner is Boeing's newest and most technologically advanced jet, and the company is counting heavily on its success. Since its launch, which came after delays of more than three years, the plane has been plagued by a series of problems including a battery fire and fuel leaks.

Japan's transport ministry said it got notices from ANA, which operates 17 of the jets, and Japan Airlines which has seven, that all their 787s would not be flying. The grounding was done voluntarily by the airlines.

The earliest manufactured jets of any new aircraft usually have problems and airlines run higher risks in flying them first, said Brendan Sobie, Singapore-based chief analyst at CAPA-Center for Aviation. Since about half the 787 fleet is in Japan, more problems are cropping up there.

"There are always teething problems with new aircraft and airlines often are reluctant to be the launch customer of any new airplanes," Sobie said. "We saw it with other airplane types, like the A380 but the issues with the A380 were different," he said.

Japan's transport ministry categorized Wednesday's problem as a "serious incident" that could have led to an accident, and sent officials for further checks to Takamatsu airport. The airport was closed.

ANA executives apologized, bowing deeply at a hastily called news conference in Tokyo.

"We are very sorry to have caused passengers and their family members so much concern," said ANA Senior Executive Vice President Osamu Shinobe.

One male in his 60s was taken to the hospital for minor hip injuries after going down the emergency slides at the airport, the fire department said. The other 128 passengers and eight crew members of the ANA domestic flight were uninjured, according to ANA.

The grounding in Japan was the first for the 787, whose problems had been brushed off by Boeing as teething pains for a new aircraft. The transport ministry had already started a separate inspection Monday on another 787 jet, operated by Japan Airlines, which had leaked fuel at Tokyo's Narita airport after flying back from Boston, where it had also leaked fuel.

A fire ignited Jan. 7 in the battery pack of an auxiliary power unit of a Japan Airlines 787 empty of passengers as the plane sat on the tarmac at Boston's Logan International Airport. It took firefighters 40 minutes to put out the blaze.

ANA cancelled a domestic flight to Tokyo on Jan. 9 after a computer wrongly indicated there was a problem with the Boeing 787's brakes. Two days later, the carrier reported two new cases of problems with the aircraft - a minor fuel leak and a cracked windscreen in a 787 cockpit.

On Friday, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta announced the review of the plane's design and construction, but said there was no need to ground the planes because they were still considered safe. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he would fly on a Dreamliner without any reservations about its safety.

The 787 relies more than any other modern airliner on electrical signals to help power nearly everything the plane does. It's also the first Boeing plane to use rechargeable lithium ion batteries, which charge faster and can be molded to space-saving shapes compared to other airplane batteries. The plane is made with lightweight composite materials instead of aluminum.

GS Yuasa Corp., the Japanese company that supplies all the lithium ion batteries for the 787, had no comment as the investigation was still ongoing.

Boeing has said that various technical problems are to be expected in the early days of any aircraft model.

"Boeing is aware of the diversion of a 787 operated by ANA to Takamatsu in western Japan. We will be working with our customer and the appropriate regulatory agencies," Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is aware of Wednesday's emergency landing in Japan and is gathering information on the incident, said spokeswoman Kelly Nantel.

In Wednesday's incident, a cockpit instrument showed a problem with the 787's battery and the pilot noticed an unusual smell, the airline said. The flight requested and was granted permission to make an emergency landing at Takamatsu airport.

Aviation safety expert John Goglia, a former National Transportation Safety Board member, said the ANA pilot made the right choice.

"They were being very prudent in making the emergency landing even though there's been no information released so far that indicates any of these issues are related," he said.

But much remains uncertain about the problems being experienced by the 787, said Masaharu Hirokane, analyst at Nomura Securities Co. in Tokyo.

The problems could turn out to be relatively easy to fix, or it could be major, and the situation was still unclear, including how long the improvements would take, he said.

"You need to ensure safety 100 percent, and then you also have to get people to feel that the jet is 100 percent safe," said Hirokane.